Tape players in general are operable in four modes, i.e., stop, play, fast-forwarding and rewinding modes. The most automated tape player alleviates the manual force for changing the mode from one to another, by using electromagnetic plungers and a motor to maintain or change the mode in response to a small manual force to a switch.
The automated tape player, however, is complicated in structure as compared to a manually operated tape player. A strong demand arose in the industry to reduce the number of parts, in particular, the number of electromagnetic plungers which are complicated in structure and require more fabrication steps than other parts made by sheet metal working. To meet the requirement, the industry made an attempt to make a single plunger govern plural modes.
There is also a parallel demand for a small-scaled tape player. This requires replacement of a suction-type plunger by a small-scaled, attraction-type plunger.